Working with Children

Some people really REALLY dislike working with children as actors on set. But as the years have gone on for me, I actually enjoy working with kids, in some ways, a lot more than adults.

For one thing, child actors are ALWAYS EAGER TO LEARN. After all, acting is a lot like playing, only it's playing with a purpose. It's make-believe and a lot of kids relish living in that moment of not having to be "themselves".

One of the first feature films I had the pleasure of working on was Moccasin Flats: Redemption based in Regina, Saskatchewan. I was the Trainee Assistant Director at the time, and the First AD put me in charge of all the background acting, and also, working with the child actors. I remember one rather general direction I was told by him was to "have the children play in this scene! And have them play around the lead actor's legs!"

Simple enough, right?

One little girl I worked with was a tad bit on the shy side. It was partially to do with her mother also being one of the crew members, and she was a bit self-conscious of this fact, even though her mother was on a different part of the set. She was thrilled to be on the film set, fascinated by everything that was technical and wanting to know what each button on the camera did, but as far as being in front of the camera, that wasn't her cup of tea at that moment in time.

She was a bit surprised with the idea of making faces in a game of tag with her on-screen sister. In fact, she was almost mortified when I suggested to her that she stick her tongue out at the on-screen sister while hiding behind the lead actor's legs, and do the "moose-ears" hands beside her head, with her thumbs on her temples.

"But, my mummy wouldn't want me to do that!" she protested, "She'd tell me that's rude!!"

I knew her real life mother would tell her that, but I smiled and pointed to the actress on set who was playing her on-screen mum. I patiently said to her, "In this scene, that girl over there is your make-believe mum. Do you think she would have a problem with that?"

The giant grin on her face gave the answer I needed, and when the cameras were rolling, she was a complete little scamp, sticking her tongue out and mocking her on-screen sister.

With my own projects, I often have child actors tackle some very serious questions, such as racism and bullying. With the project I am currently working on, all of the children and adults involved are totally invested in telling this story. The problem, of course, is finding people to play the antagonists who facilitate these attitudes.

Believe it or not, it is more the adult actors who are turned off by playing someone who would have negative attitudes. But I will save that for another article, as my focus here is the children.

The kids understand it is all make-believe. They know that who they are on the screen is not at all who they are, and off-screen, all the kids have been getting along beautifully. They laugh and play together, until I tell them it's time to start shooting. At that point when on the screen, they completely immerse themselves in the world on the pages of the script, and understand they aren't being themselves, but rather, their make-believe character.

All of the children I have worked with love to help to tell a story, and I hope as they grow into adults, they continue to hold those story-telling values.